Futures Are Created by Us: How Black Men's STEM Experiences Inform Their Well-Being

• In Event: Calling in Well-Being: Critical Examinations of Black and Brown STEM Students

Abstract

Scholars invested in supporting Black student success within postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education often point to various challenges these students face as a way to demonstrate where change needs to occur to enhance their experiences and outcomes (Burt et al., 2017; Fries-Britt, 2017). These challenges can vary, having origins that are associated with an individual’s interpersonal, social, familial, academic, spiritual, psychological, and financial experiences. As well, these scholars also discuss the various sources of support, motivation, and driving factors that positively influence Black students’ STEM experiences and outcomes (Author, 2019; Williams & Taylor, 2022). The various internal and external factors are listed, and often discussed in ways that highlight their significance on Black students’ decision-making and outcomes. By emphasizing both challenges and supports, scholars exploring this phenomenon provide recommendations for how to improve Black students’ success in postsecondary STEM, often equating success with these students’ persistence in the major and field. Missing from these perspectives are understandings of how these challenges and supports impact Black students’ holistic well-being, specifically Black men. Therefore, the following research questions guide our study: 1.) What are the experiences of Black men studying STEM at a PWI in the midwest? 2.) How do their STEM experiences inform their conceptions of and approaches to well-being?

In this study, we leverage phenomenological variant ecological systems theory (PVEST; Spencer, 2006) to explore the experiences of 20 Black men students studying either science or engineering at a predominately white institution. We developed a coding structure based on the core components of PVEST–the nested ecosystem, net vulnerability, stress engagements, reactive coping mechanisms, emergent identity, and life stage outcomes. In applying this codebook to 15 focus groups, we assessed the specific stressors these Black men face, how they coped with those experiences and subsequently developed beliefs about themselves, their capabilities, and possibilities. Our findings demonstrate that the participants’ conceptions of well-being are situated within their STEM experiences, where the underlying cultures of STEM and college life (i.e., norms, values, beliefs, and practices) drive their understanding. The participants’ perceptions of broader stereotypes and biases about Black men as associated with systemic racism also inform their understanding of well-being within STEM contexts. These perspectives also drive their various decisions and practices implemented to foster well-being.

Given these outcomes, we take a critical and holistic approach to defining well-being, specifically for Black men in STEM. We recognize the influence of postsecondary STEM learning environments on Black men’s definitions of well-being. We point out how structural racism manifests through these spaces, facilitating ideas of internalized racism, imposterism, and the need for resilience for Black men in STEM, that lead to practices designed to promote well-being that ultimately perpetuate trauma. Implications from this work speak to how and why higher education scholars and practitioners, specifically associated with STEM disciplines, must seek and center the truths of those marginalized through critical, holistic, well-being focused frames. This insight is necessary to ensure the Black men develop strengths-based perspectives of who they are within STEM spaces.

Authors

• Terrell R Morton, University of Illinois at Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Henry Lee Clopton, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Davon Breedlove
  Presenting Author

• Daimontre Yancey
  Presenting Author